FORT WORTH, Texas — The former Fort Worth officer convicted of manslaughter for the 2019 killing of Atatiana Jefferson was sentenced Tuesday to more than 11 years in prison, marking an end to the long-awaited trial in a case that sent shock waves across Tarrant County and nationwide.
The Tarrant County jury of seven men and five women deliberated Aaron Dean’s punishment for about 13 hours over two days before reaching a decision about 2 p.m. Dean was sentenced to 11 years, 10 months and 12 days in prison.
The same jurors had found Dean, 38, guilty of manslaughter Thursday after weighing his guilt for about 14 hours over two days, drawing mixed reactions. The jury rejected a murder charge, which could have led to a life sentence.
Dean faced two to 20 years in prison but was also eligible for probation. Dean had been free on bond but was jailed after his manslaughter conviction.
Jurors deliberated about 7 1/2 hours Monday before state District Judge George Gallagher sequestered them at a hotel for the night. The jury continued deliberations Tuesday morning. Deliberations lasted longer than witness testimony during the punishment phase of the trial.
About two dozen people crowded inside a courthouse hallway with cases of water, soda, snacks and doughnuts as they waited for the jury’s decision. People set up lunch stations in the hallway with pizza and barbecue. State troopers occasionally roamed through the courthouse hallways.
Prosecutors asked jurors for the maximum sentence while defense attorneys said Dean deserved probation. Prosecutors pleaded in closing arguments for jurors to return a 20-year sentence. Dean is white. Jefferson was Black. Although some of the 12 jurors are people of color, none are Black.
Jefferson’s “life is worth so much more than a probation sentence — so much more,” prosecutor Ashlea Deener said in closing arguments. “This family, her memory, her legacy, this community deserves more.”
Dean shot Jefferson through her bedroom window from the backyard of her mother’s East Fort Worth home Oct. 12, 2019. A concerned neighbor called a nonemergency police line because the home’s doors were open and lights were on inside. Jefferson and her 8-year-old nephew, Zion Carr, were playing video games and left the doors open to air out smoke after they burned hamburgers at dinnertime.
Jefferson, an aspiring doctor raised in Dallas’ Oak Cliff, moved into the home to care for her ailing mother and Zion, whose mother also was in poor health.
Dean testified he saw the barrel of Jefferson’s gun. His lawyers said in opening statements for the guilt-innocence phase of the trial he saw a green laser pointed at him, but Dean did not testify to that.
Bob Gill, one of Dean’s defense attorneys, pleaded with jurors to choose probation for Dean, saying the judge will decide fair terms if the jury grants him the opportunity. Gill said the jury decided already that Dean acted recklessly and without malice, not intentionally and knowingly, and the former officer didn’t intend Jefferson to die.
Dean acted to protect himself and his fellow officer, Carol Darch, when he shot Jefferson, Gill said. Dean didn’t set out to “hunt someone down,” Gill said, he was trained by Fort Worth police to “eliminate a threat.”
Witnesses testified Friday during the punishment phase about Jefferson’s and Dean’s characters, including a psychologist who said he evaluated Dean before he was hired by Fort Worth police and concluded Dean wasn’t fit for police work. Dean successfully appealed the psychologist’s finding and finished the police academy in 2018.
Prosecutors argued since the trial began Dec. 5 that Jefferson had a right to defend herself and that Dean didn’t see Jefferson’s gun or follow proper procedures when he arrived at the home. Defense attorneys said Dean acted within his Fort Worth police training to meet deadly force with deadly force.
Dean and a fellow officer did not announce themselves when they responded to the call, which was a focus of the five days of testimony. Dean said he didn’t announce their presence because he suspected a burglary was in progress and he didn’t want to alert a perpetrator.
At the time of his arrest, Dean was the first Tarrant County police officer charged with murder.
Other North Texas officers accused of murder in recent years include Dallas police Officer Amber Guyger, who was convicted in 2019 of murdering Botham Jean, and Balch Springs police Officer Roy Oliver, who was found guilty in 2018 of murdering Jordan Edwards.
Guyger, a white officer who was off-duty but still in uniform when she fatally shot Jean, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Jean, 26, was an innocent Black man who was eating ice cream on his couch when Guyger entered his apartment after mistaking it for her own, which was a floor below Jean’s. She testified she mistook him for an intruder and shot him after he stood up.
Oliver was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Oliver, who was white, was on duty when he murdered Jordan, a Black 15-year old who had done nothing wrong and was unarmed as he left a party. The teen was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driving away when Oliver fatally shot him with a rifle.
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